The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Proverbs 1:5-9, “A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,
6 To understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching;
9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head and ornaments about your neck.”

When did you stop learning? I honestly trust that your answer to that question is: “Never! I’ve never stopped learning!”

Why should I care about your learning? Simply because it’s the only way I can know whether you are reading and understanding things I retularly set before you.

Another question of equal importance is: What are you doing with the learning you’re acquiring? You might be an expert on the eating habits of a certain specie of birds. If so, how are you using the knowledge you’re acquiring?

Our Scripture passage above (vs. 7) says we must “fear” the LORD before we can gain knowledge. The word “fear” in this verse does not always mean “to be afraid of”. It sometimes means “to reverence.”

Think of when you were in school. The teacher you liked (reverenced) the most was the one from whom you learned the most. You ultimately retained more of what you learned from that teacher than from all the others, largely because you liked the teacher.

Our earliest teachers were our parents. If they learned well, they passed that on to you. The writer of these Proverbs encourages us to reverence the LORD and our parents. Why do you suppose he wants that of us?

The wreath of which this writer speaks is a sign of honor. When others honor us, we can then pass that honor to the LORD. After all, we are what we are according to what we have been taught. Yet, we alone are responsible for sharing it with others. Have you truly learned what you were taught? Are you passing that on to others?

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Psalm 37:1-9, “Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers.
2 For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb.
3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.
7 Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
8 Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.”
9 For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.”

It’s not really necessary for me to advise you of “evildoers.” If you’re of sufficient age to read and understand the meaning of the word, you’ve already met them. They are everywhere!! Don’t worry or get angry at them. Verse two above tells us that they won’t last long. I recall my Dad’s remark about worry. He said, “Don’t tell me it doesn’t pay to worry. Nothing I ever worried about ever happened.” (Thanks, Dad!)

The opposite of worry is trust –trust in the LORD. Keep on doing good…”cultivate a growing faithfulness” in the LORD! The psalmist goes further and encourages us to “delight” and “commit” and “trust” ever and always in the LORD! Don’t allow anyone to shake your faith!

Envision a courtroom where you are charged with doing wrong when you’re definitely not guilty. What are you to do? “Rest,” be silent. Don’t become angry! Just wait for the LORD to act. In the end, your adversaries will suffer defeat. You will “inherit the land.” You will experience the LORD’s work of miraculous deliverence.

Then, you will rejoice and acknowledge the Hand of the LORD in rescuing you from evil.

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Job 22:17-24, “They said to God, ‘Depart from us!’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to them?’
18 “Yet He filled their houses with good things; but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 “The righteous see and are glad, and the innocent mock them,
20 Saying, ‘Truly our adversaries are cut off, and their abundance the fire has consumed.’
21 “Yield now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.
22 “Please receive instruction from His mouth and establish His words in your heart.
23 “If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent,
24 And place your gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks,
25 Then the Almighty will be your gold and choice silver to you.
26 “For then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.”

It is virtually impossible for us to know precisely what was in the mind of those who originally spoke these words, or those who originally heard them. At the same time, the author reminded his hearers and us to “be at peace with Him,” enabling good things to come to us.

Like too many of olden days, we consider gold and silver as our benefit. Still, nothing counts like the dependence of His people upon Him! He knows what we don’t know; and He knows how those things we so want lie in wait to work against us.

The Scriptural challenge to us is to delight ourselves in the LORD alone!
Seek His Face, not His hand. We are not to worry about things of which we have little-to-no knowledge. We are not to concern ourselves about the things we do not understand. “Delight yourselves in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psa. 37:4).

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

John 11:20-26, “Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house.
21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

We are so like Martha. There are things that we know and things that we do not know. Yet, when we know the One who knows all things, it is virtually the same as if we ourselves know.

Life is filled with mysteries! There are things that we do no know because there is no need for us to know them. Why do we encumbrance ourselves with such things? Little children wear us down with questions: “Why?” they ask over and over again.

Job of old asked: “”Will you keep to the ancient path which wicked men have trod, who were snatched away before their time, whose foundations were washed away by a river?” (Job 22:15-16).

“”The righteous see and are glad, and the innocent mock them, saying, ‘Truly our adversaries are cut off, and their abundance the fire has
consumed.’ Yield now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you. (Job 22:19-21).

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom

Dear Grands,

Genesis 2:16-17, “The LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.’”

Genesis 3:1-5, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden”?
2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'”
4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Oh, how clever the adversary is! Yet the serpent’s tactic would never have worked, had the woman not added the phrase “or touch it” to what the LORD had said. How many self-proclaimed “ministers” add to and thereby remove the very essence of the LORD’s Word! Further, they do it at their own risk and at the risk of those who follow their teachings. They will be held accountable!

This and much more requires that we read carefully what the LORD says in His Word. That also requires that we listen with extreme care what those who claim to represent Him teach and preach as well. I am amazed at how many preach and teach their own gospel under the guize of being ministers of the LORD!

It is the LORD’s teaching that we withdraw from any and all ministries that do not strictly adhere to the clarity of His Holy Word. Spiritual men alone are qualified to serve as pastors! It is abominable what some thoroughly unqualified people will cite as their “right” to lead others in the understanding of God’s Holy Word! How crafty is that adversary!

Listen and adhere to the biblical words of David: “Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering” (Ps. 26:1).

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom